Spirited Rainbows Help Make Lake a Colorful Spot
Tanner Shiedow stood on the shore, a proud little boy filling his palms with one of the most gorgeous fish he had ever seen, a full-bodied rainbow flush with color and beautifully spotted from head to tail.
Then he dropped what he was doing, raced up the bank and engaged in a full-blown honking match with some of the largest and boldest geese anyone has ever seen.
The 4-year-old was in paradise, and so seemed everyone else, from fishermen in float tubes to toddlers on scooters to men and women in jogging shoes.
And, finally, so seemed Rick Mendoza, who gazed out at all that was happening and proclaimed, “We’ve finally reached our peak.”
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Welcome to Laguna Niguel Regional Park, wherein is its namesake lake, which Mendoza, since gaining the concession in 1994, has transformed into one of the most productive trout fisheries in Southern California, and probably the funkiest.
The fact that the 44-acre reservoir sits smack in the middle of a bustling regional park, and is home to about 30 gigantic geese, are only part of what makes Laguna Niguel Lake unique.
The larger part, without doubt, are the special fish that swim within those 44 acres.
“These fish are the real thing,” says Todd Shiedow, Tanner’s father, alluding to the larger but less-spirited rainbows stocked in some of the other pay-for-play reservoirs. “We’ve been here every Friday. Last week, we got a five-pounder, the week before a four-pounder, and we got those [two 3 1/2-pounders] today, so this seems to be a really great spot for us.”
Next to the San Clemente father and son was Curtis Bullis, 16, from La Habra, fishing solo with a three-pounder on the stringer at his feet.
Across the lake was Michael Collins, 50, a local resident fishing with a friend from Romania, adding to his passel in a wire basket.
“Oh, my gosh, look at that! Aw, poor fish--but they taste so good. Trout is my absolute favorite,” declared Nancy Thorne, all in one breath, while taking a break from her morning walk. “They must have stocked recently.”
They had, and anglers in boats and float tubes sat atop a glassy surface mirroring the gray sky, many with bends in their rods.
“This has really snowballed for us,” Mendoza said with a nod of approval. “Since the holidays, it’s been 400 people a day.”
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Perhaps Mendoza is deserving of success, having gone through hell (figuratively) and high water (literally) to carve out his niche in the cutthroat business of buying and planting trout for paying customers, who demand a special experience.
His competition, for example, includes Santa Ana River Lakes in Anaheim, which entices its customers with enormous rainbow trout raised at Mt. Lassen Trout Farm in Northern California. Santa Ana River Lakes recently produced a 23.76-pound rainbow that might have been approved as a state record had not its captor withdrawn his application amid charges he had netted the unhooked fish as it floundered close to shore.
The larger Mt. Lassen fish, while attractive from a size standpoint, are not particularly aggressive, nor are they especially wary. Netting or snagging them as they cruise the shoreline, though against the rules, does occur.
Fierce strikes and line-stripping runs are far more commonplace at Laguna Niguel Lake, where the lake record is a 15-pound hook-jaw male caught last January.
“I’ve been to Santa Ana River Lakes and it doesn’t compare,” the elder Shiedow said. “Here, you can go out and fly-fish for them and they will actually chase and take a fly.”
Tami Sawa of Mar Vista, after stepping off a boat with a stringer of two- to three-pounders, explained: “These trout still have their tails and fins,” alluding to some hatchery-raised trout having lost parts of their tails and fins--and thus the ability to fight--by constant scraping against concrete in crowded circular pens.
The trout Mendoza stocks--every other Tuesday at a cost of $25,000 a month--are raised in earthen raceways and given plenty of space. And they are well-traveled, coming from Bicknell, Utah, by way of Grace, Idaho.
They’re bought as fingerlings at Black Canyon Trout Farm in Grace, shipped to Pine Creek Trout Inc. in Bicknell, raised to various sizes--over a period of one-three years--and delivered mostly to lakes in Colorado.
Laguna Niguel is the only California stop for Pine Mountain Trout owner Dennis Blackburn, who delivers his fish personally by truck.
He calls them “Black Canyon trout” and said they’re the product of five strains of rainbows, one the lively Kamloop. The strain and careful manner in which they’re raised, he added, are only two reasons for the look and fight of the fish.
“There’s a little magic in the feed we buy,” he said, declining to elaborate.
In any event, Mendoza has tapped into quite a fish barrel, which has slowly increased the size of its product and is now delivering mostly two- to six-pounders, “with an occasional surprise thrown in,” Blackburn said, adding that he wouldn’t be shocked if the lake record isn’t bettered this season.
As for Mendoza, he’s beaming, having battled back from El Nino rains that flooded him out in 1995 and again in ‘98, and turned a profit for the first time since 1994.
“It was a matter of walking away or hanging in there,” he said. “I hung in there.”
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Every lake has its resident character, and at Laguna Niguel, it’s Jeff Herrington, 29, a fishing instructor and general overseer.
“It’s taken awhile to get to where we’re at now but we’ve created a monster,” he said, helping customers in and out of their boats. “I’m spending all my time out here, not that I’m complaining.”
Asked about the twice-monthly trout delivery, Herrington said it’s definitely something to see:
“The trout are shot right out of a tube, almost like a fire hose. They open it up and the fish shoot right out into the lake, and then they start congregating.
“You see them swimming around jumping out of the water. Every now and then you’ll see a big, whap! A slap on the top-water. It’s a big bass coming up, chowing down [on the smaller incoming trout].”
Herrington’s favorite time is spring, when the bigger bass move into the shallows and steal the spotlight. Mendoza stocked Florida-strain bass five years ago to establish a catch-and-release fishery, and Herrington, whose biggest is a 10-1, believes there’s a 20-pounder lurking somewhere.
“It’s just a matter of keeping them out of the structure,” he said of the bigger bass, “because once they get in there, you’re not going to get ‘em out.”
This being trout season, he was asked to stick to the subject.
“OK. What’s so special about our trout? It’s the color of them and how they fight,” he said. “I mean you can come up here and lay into a three-pound trout and it’s going to put the steamroller on. It’s going to run you and run you.
“You go to the other lakes and even if you get hooked to a 10- or 12-pounder, it may do a couple of smoke runs, as we call ‘em, or it’s going to come belly up. Our fish, I mean, they’re going to run, no matter what. These ones, they come rocket-launching out of the water.
“They’ll spit [your hook] and a lot of times . . . it’s the head shake from the big ones. You feel that head shake and your rod just doubles over and you feel all weight like you’re hooked on the bottom. Then you know you’ve got a big fish. And these fish are not going to go belly up. They’re gonna run you.”
Herrington then put on his ambassador hat and said that Laguna Niguel Lake is also special because of its friendly family atmosphere, because dogs are allowed in the park and because loud and obnoxious people are asked to leave.
“All these people know that if they need a helping hand, we’re here to help,” he said. “Also, if a guy’s out here with his son, his grandson or granddaughter and he’s not fishing, just helping, we don’t charge him. But if he goes to the other [pay] lakes, he’s getting charged at the gate just to get in.”
The ambassador hat then blew off and Herrington remarked on the female joggers who often skirt the lake, giving fishermen, and certain lake employees, something to look at during lulls in the bite.
“My lady doesn’t like it when I look,” he said. “She says ‘Honey!’ and I’m like ‘What!’ Just because I’m scoping the menu, doesn’t mean I’m ordering.’ ”
At this point it had long been clear that what was on the menu, and what everyone was ordering, were plump and tender rainbow trout.
The Facts
* What: Laguna Niguel Lake
* Where: Laguna Niguel Regional Park, 28421 La Paz Road
* Phone: (949) 362-3885. Web: https://www.lagunaniguellake.com
* Cost to fish (no license required): $12 adults, $10 seniors and $8 children under 12.
* Bag limit: Five trout and catfish per permit. Additional permits can be bought.
* Electric boat rentals: $8 an hour or $20 for four hours.
* Float-tubes: You need your own, and it costs $10 to launch.
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* SKI REPORT, D12